Seriously though, will someone explain to me how Numot, the Devastator, Teneb, the Harvester, and Progenitus made it to tier 2?

Meloku, the Clouded Mirror, Phelddagriff, and Mirko Vosk should be moved from tier 5 to 4.

I can see Phelddagrif, but why the other two?

Blue doesn't have enough token support for Meloku to be cost effective, and mill is awful in commander.

sonnet666 Numot and Teneb each are in relevant color combinations, and each have a powerful, repeatable ability that their respective decks can utilize. They may not be the most powerful generals one each of their colors, but that also helps the pilot of the deck to not become a target.

Progenitus is one of the few 5 color commanders, and can be in some very powerful voltron builds utilizing Fist of Suns.

Is anybody with me on moving Pharika, God of Affliction from Tier 5 to Tier 4? I'm not saying she's remotely competitive, but anytime I've ever played against her she's seemed decent. And she certainly brings something to the table: A little graveyard hate and a bunch of frazzin' deathtouch sneks.

Karn, Silver Golem Tier 3? That deck can turn one win. I've also done a turn 2 Mycosynth Lattice Turn 3 Karn, Silver Golem and Turn 4 "Oh look, none of you have lands, weird." Yes, there's some mass artifact removal that can wreck the deck, but the deck has plenty of ways to tutor up Darksteel Forge, then manage to get one of the two Platinum creatures on board and force your opponents to come up with an answer while you beat them with your 9/9 indestructible beatstick. This general has the potential to blow up quick, completely lock down the board, and swing with a massive amount of beatsticks.

Kryzis

But if five color commanders get a pass just for being 5 color, how come Karona, False God is in tier 4? Lots of people run her just for the color access for 5-color goodstuff...

Also I've played Teneb before and I can say that he's really, really slow just when you compare him to all the great reanimation effects black, green, and white have access to already. I'd bump him down to tier 3.

Still not sold on Numot either.

Burgdawg

Do tell how Karn can turn 1 win.

Anyway, I think the biggest strike against him is the colorlessness. It's hard to consistently do oppressive things if your only tutors are Kuldotha Forgemaster and Ring of Three Wishes.

Turn 1 win

Also the colorlessness allows him certain cards to go from being just good, to being game winners, most specifically All Is Dust and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon.

I don't have time now to analyse Progenitus and his two dragon friends, gonna do it later today/tomorrow. We will find the perfect home for them!

Yeah, Melek should be tier 3 in my opinion. Yes, a competitive Melek deck can win before turn 5 with a lot of luck... but that requires a lot of luck. Melek usually only starts firing off after turn 6, and I can't see him creating an unbeatable board state.

Also, why are Sharuum the Hegemon, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Momir Vig, Simic Visionary and Damia, Sage of Stone tier 1? Is there some ultra consistent combo with each of them that I'm missing? Otherwise, they are all easily answerable, so they don't meet the criteria for being 'incredibly resilient to hate'.

Rakdos, Lord of Riots should be at least tier 2.

Xira Arien seems unplayable as a commander to me.

Saffi Eriksdotter combos with a lot of cards, and those combos are exceptionally hard to disrupt so she should be at least tier 2, if not tier 1.

Why is Teferi, Temporal Archmage tier 2? I haven't seen many builds for him, but can someone explain how he sets up unbeatable board states? He doesn't seem that powerful as a commander to me.

Athreos, God of Passage deserves at least tier 3. A well-built Athreos deck can reset the board numerous times and still have a strong field presence.

Burgdawg Well I can certainly imagine what you tutor for with Planar Portal at the end there. God, why did they ever unban Metalworker?

Problem is though, that's a God hand. You can't evaluate a commander deck on what it can do if it gets lucky. The key to being a tier 1 or 2 deck is consistency. In a deck that has access to black, white or green you can jam pack your deck with tutors so you'll always get the cards you need (we are talking competitive after all), but with colorless decks you mostly lose that option. For instance, I once built a Heartless Hidetsugu deck that had the ability to kill all my opponents on turn 2, but I never once got that to happen because it just wasn't consistent enough with red's abysmal tutoring.

Speaking of colorless though, maybe we should take another look at what tier Kozilek should be in? I came across a deck on here once that could consistently ramp into him by turn 3 or 4. Then it would just beat face with him and cast more ramp off of the four cards he drew you to play him again when he was inevitably destroyed or exiled.

@Jazzyboy:

Momir Vig's tutor power makes him incredibly consistent and he's in two of the best colors in the game; Sharuum sets up some very powerful combos with her ETB; and Oloro and Damia are just very resilient and give you oodles of card advantage to set up combos with. They're all T1 worthy.

Rakdos, Lord of Riots is good, but his mana requirement are very color restrictive, you have to build around his cast restriction, and he's incredibly vulnerable to fieldwipes. I like him, but he's definitely T3.

Xira Arien is guaranteed card advantage in colors that prefer not to focus on it. She's quite good for an older legend.

Teferi, Temporal Archmage ramps better than most green cards, and has an "I win" infinite combo with The Chain Veil, while also being in the color of artifact tutors. He's T2 worthy. (Also, he's blue. Honestly any blue commander can be built up to be competitive. That's just what blue does. The fact that we're rating them just means we have to take into account what they add to the deck, and Teferi adds a lot.)

I kinda agree with you on Saffi Eriksdotter. I could see her being T2.

Athreos, God of Passage: No, just no. If this guy's working for you it means the people in your playgroup suck at the game. You never want to give your opponents choices in commander. Ever.

I'm voting to move Mikaeus, the Unhallowed up to tier 2. He only needs 2 other combo pieces to win; a card that comes back indefinitely from undying and a sacrifice outlet. With there being over 10 options for cards that come back and even more options for cards that can sacrifice it's easy to assemble a combo. There's also the fact his infinite combos work at instant speed so the only way to stop it is counter the commander or kill the combo pieces, except for the fact there are too many combo pieces to kill individually.

I also think Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge should go down to tier 3. Without haste all of your opponents have an entire turn to kill her. There's also the fact that she requires luck to exile a good instant or sorcery to cast with her attack ability.

I think Teferi, Temporal Archmage should be tier 2. He's very great at lockdown strategies because his -1 lets you untap 4 permanents. You can keep Stasis and Winter Orb up as long as you want.

Yeah!

You guys are pretty righ about Melek, Izzet Paragon. He is very slow (as I mentioned before), but I also understand (and agree with) the point of view of thegigibeast.

With Melek, Izzet Paragon out you have crazy card advantage. Good and consistent Melek, Izzet Paragon EDH deck wins, usually, next turn he enters the battlefield, or even on the same turn.

So, I understand the point of view of both of you. For me both of you are right, he could be both Tier 2 or Tier 3. Now, I am more inclined to Tier 3, to be honest.

Please I just want to ask your attention for the next point: "even if the deck can win on turn 1, 2 or 3 it doent guarantee consistency of winning with your commander on" and also the true "role of commander if he is on the field". I mean, one player from my playgroup using Sliver Queen as a commander, his deck is bonkers and he is winning more than everyone by playing Omniscience. Mostly of times he never lay his commander to the table. Does this makes Sliver Queen great in that deck (or great in general)? I guess not so much.

As well as I think we need also consider how dificult to disturb the deck comboing off or even keeping him alive. For exemple Animar, Soul of Elements is crazy and when he is off, good luck to get rid of him when he got so much protection and when he is blue (counters) as well.

In order:

to answer sonnet666's questions about Numot, Teneb, and Progenitus:

Numot and Progenitus are relics of the previous tier list. Adnittedly Numot can be quite powerful in French, but no, I agree he's not quite tier 2. Probably the same for Progenitus. However, Teneb is extremely worthy of his place.

Teneb is, for all intents and purposes, a marginally weaker version of Karador. Their one and only defining difference is Teneb's reliance on combat damage. Karador is one of the defining decks of Tier 1, able to consistently combo off by turn 4 with Boonweaver Giant combo while also being quite oppressive in the mid-game and resilient to hate outside of graveyard disruption. Teneb can be used to helm a literally identical deck and not have it suffer any extremely noticeable power difference. In one aspect, he's actually stronger, since he can reanimate Boonweaver for 3 vs Karador's 7, and his ability puts it directly onto the field instead of casting. I know Teneb isn't played much as a commander, so the confusion is understandable. My advice is to take a top-notch Karador deck (cobblepott's famous deck Karador Multiplayer Boonweaver Combo/Control or my Karadora the Graveyard Explorer come to mind), copy it, replace Karador with Teneb, and do a bit of playtesting with the deck. It should beimmediately apparent once you get the hang of the deck just why Teneb is Tier 2.

I agree with all of your tier changes. Good eye. I personally feel Teysa, Orzhov Scion is more of a tier 3 commander. She usually requires quite a sizable creature generator / recursion engine for her ability to be potent, and sadly, her color identity doesn't lend much footing. I personally haven't had a huge amount of experience with her, never having built her myself and only seeing two decks for her in action, but from little I saw, Tier 3 seems proper. The stronger iteration that I saw was capable of doing fairly well in a casual 5 player free for all filled with other decks currently on our Tier 3 and 2 list (I believe there was a Kalemne, Nahiri, budget Joira, along with my own as of then straight-out-of-the-box Mizzix), but was no-where near the dominant deck at the table, which is more or less the definition of Tier 3. Her only strong combo requires 3 cards to assemble.

Melek is Tier 2 thanks to his ability to "storm" through his deck and the win the turn after he resolves with fair consistency. Turn 3 melek into turn 4 Mystical Tutor into Time Warp or something similar is not only possible play, but an extremely common one that almost always leads to a winning combo chain. Typically both iterations of the deck (Narset-style bonus turns and the 1v1-oriented cantrip pile that wins via Grapeshot) are both quite viable.

Sadly, I don't personally know the name or location of the optimized deck lists for him that I've met on Cockatrice, else I'd link for an example. When I find one, I'll post it here.

@Burgdawg: Nearly any deck in the format can be streamlined into a glass cannon combo that has a .001% potential to win on turn 1. It does not automatically imply that a commander a Commander is Tier 1. By that logic, Ambassador Laquatus is insanely competitive because it can win in much the same way with infinite mana on turn 1, which is obviously ludicrous.

Karn has a cool ability that can be devastating when assembled with something that turns lands into creatures, but he folds too easily to artifact hate, has very little removal or other interactions, and is (usually) significantly slower than a lot of the defining combo builds.

Teferi, Temporal Archmage is tier 2 because his control game almost as oppressive as Azami's. They play a very similar shell, albeit Teferi has less early-game draw power and less of a Wizard Tribal sub-theme. Their only major difference is how they win. While Azami can combo out with Mind Over Matter into Lab Man, Teferi plays stax. Stasis, Static Orb, Embargo, Winter Orb, Meekstone, and other similar tools make up the backbone of the deck, allowing him to oppress opponents and win via either beaters or another infinite combo like Chain Veil as Lanzo said. He's particularly devastating in smaller match ups where he can use Frost Titan to brutally oppress one opponent for multiple turns.

Sharuum is Tier 1 because her well-known Sculpting Steel + Disciple of the Vault is both consistent due to having multiple redundant combo pieces, and fast, able to come online fairly consistently by turn 5 with a proper setup. There are a dozen other infinite interactions in the premiere decks that help her win at a moment's notice. Like all Esper commanders, she also has the ability to play a very mean early-game control suite.

Oloro is tier 1 because he's the best commander for Esper Ad Nauseam: one of the most powerful decks in EDH. His lifegain ability both helps him stay secure until combo can come online, and provides a sizable life padding in cas the full combo isn't already assembled in hand and he has to dig for Angel's Grace. He can also play an extremely mean pillow fort with board wipes, either as a stand-alone strategy or as a tool to keep everyone else locked down until he can combo off.

Momir Vig is Tier 1 due to his incredibly powerful elfball combo / shenanigans. A good setup allows him to a drop a large chunk of his library onto the battlefield as early as turn 3 with Prophet of Kruphix. I believe the premiere Momir list (Paramount's deck from TopCommander) wins via a Sage of Hours infinite loop, much like Ezuri. Paramount managed to win on turn 3 with it twice in a row when he played it in a 4-player Cockatrice match, even after he became the primary target in game two.

If you're not sure why Damia is Tier 1, I highly recommend taking a look at Epochalyptik's deck: Dominus - Dreamcrusher Edition, the unequivocal premier Damia deck.. Damia is capable playing incredibly powerful control early-game and quickly comboing out via Deadeye or another infinite combo fairly early. There are also some slightly stronger variations of the deck that run a heavier reanimator package and win via Buried Alive Mike and Trike into Victimize or Living Death. Whatever variation, Damia control is incredibly powerful and resilient.

I disagree with Rakdos, Lord of Riots being Tier 2. The mana cost and damage restriction prevents him from consistently hitting the board before turn 3, with turn 4 being the unfortunate norm. After that, his ability to drop Eldrazi and othe rmassive creatures for free is incredibly strong, but only if he's allowed to survive. RB has very few ways to protect their creatures. Often he ends up being Path fodder, or never even being allowed to resolve due to the damage restriction in higher levels of play. I don't feel he has the consistency to be placed above Tier 3.

@ lanzo: Jeleva is currently Tier 2 because she's the premiere commander for Grixis storm (look up Moxnix's Grixis Jeleva Storm deck sometime), as well as Grixis Doomsday. She's one of the commanders like Scion of the Ur-Dragon that isn't herself incredibly powerful, but is used to head a high-tier deck that only relies on her as a backup win condition. Jeleva herself is only cast and swung with if the deck somehow runs out of steam. Her ability can often restart the Storm combo if it sputters out, or hit a tutor / other important piece to dig out Doomsday and win the following turn.

I could see Mikaeus being moved up. My only qualm is his color identity. Mono black is notoriously slow and has very poor interactions with artifacts and enchantments. Admittedly, Mikaeus plays almost strict combo, so he doesn't need to worry about it most of the time. Having to to Nevermore when it resolves is always crippling though. It makes him very borderline between Tier 2 and 3 in my eyes.

Lanzo493,
I play Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge so please take my comments with a pound of salt. I agree she's normally Tier 3, but check out Moxnix's build, Jeleva's Pile of Broken over at MTGSalation. Based on that, I think she's Tier 2. Or maybe "Tier 2 with an asterisk"

sonnet666 and NarejED- Yes it's true that that's a God-hand and yes it's true that you can technically hone any deck you want into a glass-cannon build, but Karn, Silver Golem has lots and lots of different ways to set up unbeatable board states, prisons, stop people from playing anything whether via mana denial or just stopping permanents with Ward of Bones and creatures with Portcullis. Also, people rant and rave about the control with Cyclonic Rift, well this deck one ups it with All Is Dust, Nevinyrral's Disk + Darksteel Forge or Soul of New Phyrexia, and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. This deck can do very nasty things very fast, tutor up whatever it needs, and attack the board lots of different ways depending on the current board state. I'm not arguing that it's necessarily a Tier 1, just that maybe it belongs in Tier 2, but def not in Tier 3.

:') only two tier-one decks don't have blue in their color identity

I wish that there was some way to denote that Scion the Ur dragon is in the tier one list mostly as a figurehead, used pretty much only for colours, to lead a 5c combo deck. Because most Scion builds are far from tier one.

Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - I fail to see how she is not just a downgrade from Ezuri, Renegade Leader. She is slower and doesnt have the same impact as Ezuri. As such, I think that she should be moved down a tier. This would be the same relationship that Azami, Lady of Scrolls and Arcanis the Omnipotent have, leading what is largely the same deck, but one being a downgrade from the other.

Anafenza, the Foremost - I think that she should be moved up a tier. The colours she is in allow her to lead a very effective stax deck, giving access to a potent mix of tutors, removal, and tax effects, even going so far as to act as a stax piece herself. When you add to all that the fact that she is an efficient beater that grows your other beaters, you have a recipe for a powerful deck.

Commander Eesha - Using the current definitions of tiers, I dont think Eesha belongs in three, and that it should be moved down a tier. White as a colour is already lacking in both ramp and card draw, and Eesha is very underwhelming as a commander.

Ephara, God of the Polis - Shes cute as commander, but when compared to other (non-legends) UW commanders, shes nearly unplayable. I think she should be moved to 4.

Athreos, God of Passage - I think he should be moved up a tier, being able to constantly regrow threats and strongarm people politically makes him relevant. Additionally he is in two of the best colours for removal.

Dralnu, Lich Lord - Another one that I think should be moved up a tier. Unchecked, Dralnu plays out almost like Melek does, taking as many turns as they can, putting themselves very far ahead of the rest of the table, eventually either landing a threat to kill the table or finding some infinite combo to end the game on the spot. Played correctly, his downside (the sac clause) is almost entirely irrelevant.

Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath/Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed - Mono black control has always been powerful, and these are some of the best leaders for it. Both provide something that the deck needs, a relevant and evasive clock, while also fulfilling other more utility based roles. I think that they should both be moved up a tier.

Mishra, Artificer Prodigy/Reki, the History of Kamigawa - These are both generals that I play (or did until recently, just decommissioned Reki) so I cant really say much, but I think they both deserve a slot on the tier 3 list. Mishra needs a little bit of time to setup and as such relies on politics a little bit, but can be played as both an effective control deck or a eggs combo deck. This is my Mishra list: Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Chaos/Combo). As for Reki, mono green is already powerful, offering some very impactful legends, he simply facilitates finding more legends. Green can often struggle in getting more cards, relying on just a few spells like Harmonize or Shamanic Revelation, whereas Reki turns almost every spell into a cantrip. This was my Reki list: Reki, History of Kamigawa (Creature Stompy)

Wow, um... there's a lot to talk about here:

randomone:

Sliver Queen is tier 2 not just because it gives you access to five color combo, but also because there are combos and synergies that are available only to it (Mana Echoes, actually playing slivers, etc.). It gets a boost from being five color, and then an additional boost for actually bringing something to the table.

NarejED:

First, thank you for the compliment. :)

I'm going to concede you Teneb. I wasn't thinking of Boonweaver combo. I still don't really like him, but that's probably because I already play Karador and don't really like the downgrade.

I also disagree with your assessment of Teysa, but I think it's better if I don't argue you on it since I know that I'm biased and I've already spoken about her enough here. I'll let it be someone else's decision. I will say that in the example of the game you played, you might not have been seeing the full story. Part of being a good Teysa player is to dominate the board quietly. There are a lot hidden interactions in my deck, and the other players will frequently not realize that I can destroy their whole board state until they do something that actually bothers me. It's the kind of deck that aims to be the last man standing, and part of that is not overextending yourself. (Also, the person you were playing could have just had a bad deck, always a possibility.)

I am going to argue you on Melek being T2, for a couple of reasons: first, I don't think storm is a good enough reason to kick him up to T2, as almost any // commander can be built into a storm deck; and second, I think that's even less of a plus to him now that we have Mizzix, as her storm potential is an order of magnitude stronger than Melek's. If Mizzix > Melek, and Mizzix is T2, then Melek should be T3. (Although I have a feeling that as people play with and optimize Mizzix, we might eventually see her move up to T1.)

Also, about Mikaeus being moved up. I was holding off on mentioning this because of the mono-black color identity, but I feel that if Mikaeus deserves to be T2 then so does Chainer, Dementia Master. He has access to a variety of infinite combos, can self-mill for consistency, and covers mono-black's weaknesses pretty well by reanimating creatures from other people's graveyards for off-color effects. He's also incredibly resilient, and can come back from a fieldwipe like nothing happened. (And since when is mono-black slow? You have access to decent draw, more mana doublers than any other color, and Cabal Coffers.)

PlattBonnay:

Scion the Ur dragon is more than a figurehead. See what I said about Sliver Queen. People run him for 5c combo, but he also brings more to the table than any other 5 color commander. Even if the only dragons you include are Nicol Bolas and Dragon Tyrant, you still have a turn 7 (or earlier) kill that removes all of your opponent's answers to it.

Freyalise, Anafenza, Ephara, Dralnu, Athreos, Ob Nixilis, and Xiahou are all fine where they are.

• Freyalise is easy to overlook, but pumping out a mana dork every turn is actually really powerful.

• Anafenza could make an interesting stax list, but a lot of stax lists aim to use the yard to your advantage, and she shuts that down. She also doesn't create any card, mana, or token advantage on her own, so a stax list built around her would be guaranteed to be sub par.

• Ephara has to be built right, but offers good card advantage if you set the deck up to make creature on your opponent's turns as well as your own. She's T3 worthy.

• Dralnu can be alright, but I feel his draw back is still too crippling to take him out of T4. I know people say they're only going to play him if their in a position to win, but how many ways are there to give him haste is Blue/Black? Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Thousand-Year Elixir, and Akroma's Memorial. And even if you do, you'll still need ten or more mana to cast him and an extra turn spell in the same turn...

• Athreos, Like I said earlier: Never give your opponents choices.

• Ob Nixilis, and Xiahou I just find meh. They're mono-black and they don't really offer anything particularly spectacular as commanders.

I do agree with you about Mishra being T3 and with Commander Eesha being T4. Mishra makes a cool combo deck, and Eesha isn't resilient enough to be a good voltron commander and is limited to a weak color.

I'm not going to weigh in on Reki, the History of Kamigawa, as I've never seen him in action, but just at a glance he doesn't seem powerful enough to make it off T4.

Here's a total list of the suggestions I'm making:

Adamaro, First to Desire, Obzedat, Ghost Council, Tajic, Blade of the Legion, Maga, Traitor to Mortals, Commander Eesha, Konda, Lord of Eiganjo, and Ghost Council of Orzhova all demoted to Tier 4.

Reaper King promoted to Tier 2. Five color commanders are already getting a boost, and there are enough commander relevant scarecrows that stapling Vindicates onto them becomes quite powerful.

Wort, the Raidmother to Tier 2. She's Tier 3 if you try to go for tribal goblins, but you can actually make a really strong deck out of conspiring backbreaking instants and sorceries with her.

Chainer, Dementia Master To Tier 2 - Reasons stated.

Mishra, Artificer Prodigy To Tier 3 - Already discussed.

Saffi Eriksdotter To Tier 2 - Possibly, needs further discussion.

Also, I know she's not on the site yet, but I think Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim (link) is going to have a spot in Tier 3. You can make a pretty nice reanimation deck with big ETB/dies creatures that uses her as guaranteed access to a cheap sac outlet.

Oh, and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker should be in the same tier as Krenko, Mob Boss. They have the same level of combo potential, and nearly the same level of token potential.

It's been my personal experience that Melek is slightly stronger than Mizzix. Mizzix takes a few turns to really start going after you cast her. If she gets a good spell progression she CAN go off the turn after she resolves, but those progressions are fairly rare-- I would say 20-25% occurrence at max. on average, she takes approximately three turns after resolution to win. She's also easier to disrupt. 1-2 well-placed removal or counter spells can leave her in a precarious position will no draw spells in hand. Melek partially negates this problem as he can play spells off the top of his library, so long as it's an instant or sorcery, making it easier for him to recover from heavy disruption. It's the same for starting hands. Melek, due to being less concerned with having to cast spells from hand, can afford to take greedier Mulligans for ramp with impunity.

Overall, I've found Melek to play a bit like a weaker Narset. He costs a fair chunk of mana, but he quickly closes out games after resolving with a little luck by casting huge spells from the top of the deck, much as Narset does.

Finally, I would argue that he is significantly more powerful than a fair number of Commanders currently in the Tier 2 list. Freyalise, Jarad, Krenko, Marath, and a fair number of other commanders currently on the list have proven weaker than him overall in speed, consistency, and/or resilience. Although this is more likely an indication of further changes that need to make to the list, rather than a valid reason to keep Melek on as Tier 2.

It sounds like we need a wider vote on Melek. Clearly both of us know a fair bit about him, but still disagree on tier placement. I doubt either will convince the other, at least not until I can find or build an optimized list for him.

Fair enough, what did you think of my other suggested changes?

sonnet666:

Its debatable that Scion is the best 5c commander for a combo deck, there are arguments to be made for Child of Alara and Sliver Queen, so if we're considering Scion to be tier one, they should all be.

Paying 5 mana for a 1/1 dork every turn is not nearly as powerful as overrun and protection on a stick. So we should either move Ezuri up or move Freyalise down. Seeing as mono green Ezuri isnt tier one, the answer is the move Freyalise down.

Not sure if you misread Anafenza, but she does nothing to her yard, she only disrupts the opponents yards.

Dralnu's ability can be cripping, but direct damage spells are few and far between. Having the resources to play him and a walk in the same turn is a lot, but having the resources to play him and protect him with a counterspell isnt that much. He is a combo deck, not a control deck, so that counterspell should realistically only be used to prevent a Blasphemous Act or a Comet Storm or something like that.

In regards to Athreos, the mentality of "dont give your opponents choices" isnt as hard of a rule as you're saying. Athreos makes it so that all of the choices are bad. You choose which opponent pays life. At the very worst, it turns every dead creature into a bolt. It requires some politic-ing, but by the definitions posted, that is what tier 3 is about.

And finally, Xiahou Dun is a near unconditional regrowth effect in black (something that basically never happens) stapled to an unblockable 3/2 body. Strap some kind of equipment to him and he becomes one of the fastest clocks that mono black has to offer.

I agree with everything except Wort, the Raidmother, Chainer, Dementia Master, and Saffi Eriksdotter.

Wort: First of all, what are you doing arguing her as Tier 2 after suggesting Melek is Tier 3? They have very similar mana costs and abilities, yet Melek is easier to abuse and has a better color identity for what he does. He's actually noticeably stronger than her. /Endrant

Back to Work: The ability is extremely nice, but not for the color identity. Gruul is notorious for its preference of creatures over instants/sorceries/other non-creature spells (just look at Ruric Thar, the Unbowed). It does not have access to a large selection of immediately abuseable spells beyond Green's land ramp and creature tutors and red's burn. I know there are some solid infinite combos that can be used and abused with her, but I just don't feel she possesses the speed and consistency to compete with the likes of Kaalia, Ghave, and other Tier 2 commanders.

Chainer: First off, being in mono-black severely handicaps him. Having little or no access to artifact hate, enchantment hate, and consistent early-game ramp outside of artifacts means he's already at a severe disadvantage against certain decks. Next, his ability. It's extremely powerful true, but the risk of losing a massive chunk of your boardstate to Path to Exile, or even Cyclonic Rift takes a little bit of the edge off of it. Admittedly, he's more often used as a backup Reanimator for a Mike and Trike combo or something similar, but the ability's drawback still stands. It also can't be used as an infinite combo enabler due to the life cost. It's still an extremely potent ability that lends itself to both reanimator and sac-based stax strategies, but I just don't feel it makes Chainer worthy of Tier 2 play. Meren can do something quite similar, only she's cheaper to cast, has a much stronger color identity, can recur creatures without paying life or mana, and doesn't lose a large portion of her board state when someone gets fed up with her and slaps her with targeted removal. Since Meren is far superior to Chainer in almost every way, I don't feel there's any justification to put them on the same tier.

Saffi: She's definitely very close, if not borderline, Tier 2. I feel what keeps her out of the top is her lack of access to black. Competitive Saffi decks run Karmic Guide loops and other sac-based combos to win, but they have difficulty both in assembling the combos, and in having a consistent way to win off of those infinite sac loops like Blood Artist, instead having to try to rely on cards like Blasting Station and Archon of Justice, which are more expensive to cast. Most decks often end up playing an early game stax / hate bears type deck to slow other decks enough to allow her to assemble the pieces, but they still often end up getting steamrolled. Even one of the most famous Saffi decks on the site: enpc's deck Just Stay Dead don't perform at the level of most of the current Tier 2 commanders.